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VA Works to Offer Veterans More Secure, Convenient Online Services

VA is First US Government Agency to Meet "Level of Assurance 3" IT Standard

WASHINGTON - Today, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced that, with help from Veteran-run small business ID.me, Veterans will now be able to manage their own health care and benefits online more simply and safely. Vets.gov now meets the "Level of Assurance 3" (LOA3) information assurance standard, which will allow VA to offer Veterans more features on a single convenient site. This is the highest level of security used to protect user data and privacy, and VA is a leader in both the government and private sectors with an LOA3 logon account.

After a year of beta testing, VA launched Vets.gov, where Veterans can now use a single account to access services that were previously spread across numerous websites requiring multiple usernames and passwords. Because of security improvements enabled by ID.me's tools, Veterans can now use Vets.gov to:

- Check the status of a benefits claim

- Message with health care providers

- Order prescription refills online

Information assurance is about proving who you really are online. A multi-factor authentication process, developed with ID.me, confirms a Veteran's identity at the highly certain "Level of Assurance 3," so VA can safely share personal information. VA is the first federal agency to meet the LOA3 standard of the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

"This move is just the latest step in VA's effort to improve Veterans' access to VA services and information," said Marina Martin, VA's Chief Technology Officer. "Protecting Veterans' privacy and personal information is central to our mission, and these improvements keep that commitment while making communication with VA more convenient and accessible."

"To date, Veterans have been required to visit a VA facility in-person to verify their identities before they were able to access valuable VA services online," said Blake Hall, ID.me CEO. "Now, Veterans can easily verify their identity at Vets.gov from their own home or on the go. The net result is a substantial improvement in access and customer experience."

- See more at: http://www.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=2838#sthash.XXFJc9YY.dpuf